


Meeting the family

by MissTako



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M, Secret Santa, family diner, pretend not to be dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 18:15:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9001318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissTako/pseuds/MissTako
Summary: Laurent's family wishes to visit. But Laurent might not be ready to introduce Damen as his boyfriend just yet.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CanneDeBonbon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanneDeBonbon/gifts).



> MERRY CHRISTMAS CanneDeBonbon!
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this little fic with Lamen, Auguste and of course Nicaise. Happy reading :)

Damen could tell Laurent was preoccupied. His boyfriend was usually good with hiding his emotions, but after almost two years of dating, it became pretty easy to read him. Not that Laurent was trying very hard this time; it was obvious he wanted to talk to Damen, but wasn’t managing to actually bring himself to do it.

“Okay. Tell me. What’s wrong.”

Laurent had the audacity to look surprised, lifting a perfect brow and momentary pausing the slaughter of their future meal.

“You are stressed.”

“I am always stressed.”

“You obviously want to talk about something.”

“If I wanted to I would have.”

“Laurent.”

The blond delicately laid down the knife he was using and finally turned to look at Damen.

“You know of my brother and his son.”

Of course he knew. Laurent would deny it with all he had, but he actually loved his brother’s family more than anything, and talked about them so much Damen felt like he knew them already.

“Has something happened to them?”

“No. They… They want to visit.”

Damen broke into a smile. That was great news, he knew his boyfriend missed them, and felt horrible for having missed his nephew’s birthday because of midterms. It would do him great to see his family, to be able to relax a few days. And Damen really wanted to meet Laurent’s family. He knew his relationship with some of them was… difficult at best, but Laurent loved his brother dearly and Damen wanted to be introduced to the people that were important to Laurent. Two years of dating might not be much for some people, but Laurent already met Damen’s family, and they moved in together a year ago. He wanted to be part of Laurent’s life for a long time, and meeting the family was part of the process.

“Where will they be staying? We have a guestroom, they don’t have to pay for a hotel, it should be enough. How long are they staying?”

“Actually, I want you to take the guestroom.”

“What?”

Damen hold down the anger that automatically flared up at the sharp words. Laurent wasn’t the easiest person to live with, he had secrets, he had a temper, and sometimes he needed space, that was why they went through the trouble of finding a flat with an additional bedroom in the first place. Maybe it was just that, Laurent being stressed and asking, admittedly rudely, for some space and time alone.

Laurent tiredly rubbed a hand against his eyes.

“I didn’t tell them I was in a… relationship.”

“And you can’t tell them now?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“Damen I...”

Laurent opened and closed his mouth several times, uncharacteristically silent, and Damen took his hand.

“Hey, it’s okay, I mean it. I’m not mad.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.”

“I know. I would not be here if you didn’t want me to. You are not the type to keep people around if you don’t want them here.”

Laurent laughed.

“I wasn’t always like that. I know we didn’t addressed the matter directly but you know that I had… a difficult relationship in the past. I didn’t want to worry Auguste by telling him I was dating. Still don’t want to.”

“It’s okay, I understand. Do you want me to stay with Nikandros’?”

“It’s not necessary. They are staying a week, in a hotel next to the city hall. I will just explain that I have a flatmate. It’s your house, I won’t kick you out without a good reason.” He gripped Damen’s hand a little more firmly. “And like you said, I want you here.”

 

 

* * *

 

Moving in the next room felt weird. Damen was used to Laurent’s presence, and he was a very affectionate person. Not being able to just hug Laurent whenever he feels like it would be a challenge, and not the kind of challenge Damen liked.

Despite everything, Damen was looking forward to meeting Auguste. The man sounded like someone Damen would get along with really well, and even if he wouldn’t be introduced as Laurent’s boyfriend, he would still be introduced, and that was a step in the right direction.

He was still unpacking to make the room looks like someone was actually living here full time when a loud shrill echoed from the staircase, followed by an equally loud bang against the front door.

“LAURENT!” yelled a voice way too young to belong to Laurent’s older brother.

“Nicaise. Welcome. You weren’t supposed to be here for two more hours. Where is your father?”

“Unpacking at the hotel. It’s boring so I came here.”

“Does he know where you are?”

The silence that followed was a very obvious “no”, and Damen choose to poke his head out of the bedroom.

“Hi, kid. Laurent, do you want to call Auguste? I will take care of the kid.”

Said kid took a step back, eyes narrowing.

“Who are you?”

“Nicaise, meet Damen, my flatmate. Damen, Nicaise, I told you about him, he is my nephew. I am going to call your father Nicaise, I will be right back.”

Without waiting for a reply, Laurent left the room to look for his phone, leaving the two men staring at each other.

“Who are you?” the kid looked wary, and a little bit like he was thinking of jumping at Damen’s face to rip out his eyes.

“Laurent told you, I am his flatmate, we live together. We studied at the same university.”

“He never told us about you.”

“He told me a lot about you.”

“You are old.”

“Twenty five. And you are thirteen, that’s right?”

“No. I am fifteen.”

“No you are not, your birthday was last month, Laurent called you, I was here.”

The kid looked a little angrier.

“Why are you living with my uncle?”

“It’s cheaper. And we are good friends.”

“Laurent doesn’t have friends.”

“That’s very mean, Nicaise, do I bring up the fact that _you_ don’t have friends?” Laurent emerged from his room, a phone against his ear.

“Don’t insult my son, he already has self-esteem issues,” said a disembodied voice from the receiver.

“Your son has a lot of issue but self-esteem isn’t one of them. Leave Damen alone, brat.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“And I didn’t ask you to.”

Laurent and Nicaise stared at each other for a moment, but seemed to come to an agreement, and Nicaise hopped onto a kitchen stool.

“I’m hungry.”

“We will eat when your father will be here.”

“But I am hungry _now_.”

“Too bad. Maybe you should have stay at the hotel to help Auguste, you would have both been here at the same time and probably earlier. Make yourself useful and go dress the table.”

Once the kid was out of earshot, Damen leaned against Laurent.

“That’s him, your much-loved nephew, the perfect kid you can’t shut up about?”

Laurent just snickered in response, and Damen yelped at a sudden sharp pain in his thigh. He looked down to find Nicaise holding a fork to his leg.

“Laurent, your nephew just stabbed me.”

Nicaise just scoffed.

“It’s not stabbing if it’s not a knife.”

“Nicaise, you can stab your friends if you want to, but don’t stab mine, I need them. Especially this one, he pays the rent.”

“He was too close.”

“That’s my place to decide, isn’t it?”

“He was too close,” insisted the child, pressing the fork harder.

The doorbell rang and Nicaise bolted to open the front door. Damen picked up the fork, wincing. He was pretty sure he was bleeding, and hoped Auguste would be less inclined toward that kind of violence. Laurent’s family was not what he was expecting, but at the same time, they were exactly what he _should have expected,_ knowing Laurent. After all, the blond threw him into a river back when they first met. It was simply their way to test new people. Maybe.

“Augustee!”

Laurent’s reception of his brother was far warmer than the one he offered to his nephew. If he didn’t throw himself in Auguste’s arms, he ran to his brother, a smile lighting his face in a way Damen rarely saw, even directed at himself. He smiled softly.

“Hey little brother, how are you?” His eyes met Damen’s. “And who is it? Are you having a friend coming over? Are we too early?”

“He is the one having me over. It’s his place, we are flatmates.”

Auguste’s face immediately closed off.

“Laurent, you should have told me if you were having money problems, you know I would have helped, you don’t have to live with some…”

“Auguste.”

Damen watched the exchange. He was starting to understand why Laurent refused to introduce him as his boyfriend yet. According to the two angry glares he was receiving, his family didn’t trust a lot of people with Laurent’s wellbeing.

“Auguste, this is Damen, he is an old friend who studied in the same university as me. He is a professional swimmer.”

“Is that even a real job?”

“Nicaise, be nice. Damen is cooking and he may not poison the food if you insult him, but I will and you know it.”

Thankfully, talking about his job seems to have distracted Auguste a little. He was a professional horse rider himself, and quite happy to be able to talk about sports and the upcoming Olympics. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, chatting while Damen was cooking, occasionally eyeing Laurent and Nicaise who were bickering over the table’s setting.

“So.”

“Hum?”

“You are living with my little brother.”

“Yes. It’s been… almost a year.”

“How did that happened?”

Damen frowned.

“Quite naturally. We get along well, so it seemed like a good idea.”

“I hate to say this, but nobody gets along well with Laurent. He is not an easygoing person. Even I can’t share a space with him for too long without wanting to rip his head off.”

Both men laughed.

“I never said I didn’t want to rip his head off from time to time.”

“If you touch him I would have to kill you.”

The tone was still pleasant and teasing but Damen was perfectly aware that the threat was strangely very real. He opened his mouth, looking for an answer, when Laurent butted in.

“Is everything ready yet?”

“Almost. Wanna taste?”

Damen hold the spoon, and Laurent leaned against his shoulder, a hand on the nape of his neck, to reach the spoon.

“It’s not salty enough.”

“I will drown you in that soup, it will become salty enough.”

“That’s very rude, Damen, you can’t serve my corpse to my family.”

They laughed, but somebody behind them cleared his throat.

“You are very… domestic.”

Damen wondered if he should maybe distance himself from Laurent, to protect their cover. But Laurent didn’t move, and he knew to trust him. The blond turned to face his brother.

“Well, we do live together, some level of domesticity is to be expected.”

“Some level, yes.”

Auguste was still frowning when they sat down in front of the food, and Damen knew they will have to face questions.

“So, Damen, how did you come to befriend my brother?”

“We just hit off,” answered Laurent

 _You just hit me_ , thought Damen, thinking fondly of that day when a remark about Laurent’s blond hair led him to end up on the bottom of the river the sport teams were taking a trip to.

“We met during a school trip. We were supposed to introduce the new students to the various sport teams and I was in charge of the swimming demonstration.”

“I actually hated him at first.”

“You hate everyone at first. What changed?”

“He’s too dumb to hate.”

“I had better grades than you when I was your age.”

“School is harder now.”

“It was 4 years ago.”

“Programs changes quickly,” Laurent defended himself, stealing some meat in Damen’s plate and biting into it aggressively. Damen just laughed, and Nicaise seemed to take that as an authorization to do the same.

Laurent finally raised his head to look Auguste dead in the eyes.

“He is very devoted. And he helped a lot. He’s like a puppy.”

“What are your intention toward my brother?”

Damen paused, swallowed his food, and met Auguste’s eyes with all the honesty he was able to muster.

“Whatever he wants, for how long he wants it.”

Auguste nods and resumed eating.

“I still don’t like you.” muttered Nicaise.

“I am glad, maybe it will prevent you from invading us too often.” Laurent smiled.

 

 

* * *

 

“I though you didn’t want to tell them about us.”

“I didn’t.”

“But they know.”

“Yes.” Laurent rolled on his side to face Damen. “I didn’t want to tell them, I wanted to show them. That I am happy with you and because of you. I know you wanted to meet them, but I couldn’t just tell them.”

“I see why. That kid was ready to murder me just for breathing the same air as you. I am still worried, by the way.”

“He won’t do anything. He saw I am happy and he will respect that.”

“I am glad.”

“You were that worried? He isn’t even half your size, you giant.”

“No. I meant, I am glad, that you are happy.”

Laurent looked at him for a long time, and then just scoffed.

“You huge sap.”

“ _Your_ huge sap.”

“Why I am dating you?”

“Because I make you happy.”

“Yes,” Laurent curled up a little closer to Damen. “You do.”


End file.
